In the above sale, the photo tells the real story, and apart from the MOC in the description I don't think the seller was trying to pretend that it is a true MOC.
Considering that carded figures are often described as MOC but turn out to have a cut bubble, opened MOC, bubble lifting etc, or where a sealed figure has paint loss (ie no longer mint), what are the essential attributes for a MOC? And how loose can we be with the term?